


kiss the boy damn it

by lokh



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Illustrated, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-15
Updated: 2014-08-15
Packaged: 2018-02-13 06:30:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2140668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lokh/pseuds/lokh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>in which the karasuno and nekoma setters are awkward and think things too much</p>
            </blockquote>





	kiss the boy damn it

**Author's Note:**

> i know this is terrible but like. this ship tag didn't even exist before this fic i'm kinda disappointed
> 
> tumblr mirror: [here](http://lokhkhee.tumblr.com/post/94812911055/kiss-the-boy-damn-it-also-a-sort-of-fic-yeah)

It’s worse than you ever thought it could be.

When Shouyou first told you that Karasuno’s intense setter was, in fact, a ‘huge freaking dork’ (in his words), you were (understandably) skeptical about it. So far, the only time you’ve really interacted (?) with him was on court, and the only thing you’d gotten from it was that he was a genius, had an intense physical presence and a really, really intense glare. Outside of matches, it was pretty much out of the question that you’d ever talk to him or that he’d ever try to talk to you.

You weren’t wrong, exactly. He certainly didn’t make any attempts to talk to you, at first.

Instead, he somehow thought it more appropriate to stand several meters away from you and mutter really angrily and really quickly. It would’ve been amusing if it weren’t directed at you, probably. You thought it was probably something you could deal with, since circumstances didn’t exactly mean that you met up often, but then - unbelievably - he  _showed up at your house_.

"I’m Kageyama Tobio. I’m the setter for Karasuno. You’re Kenma, right?"

How in the world did he even get your address? Shouyou gave it to him, he said. You were going to have to have a talk with Shouyou on information that should be passed around and information that should not. You were going to have to think more carefully about the information _you_ passed around next time. What the heck was he even doing all the way out here in Tokyo? Surely he wasn’t here to mutter at you?

"No, I, uh," he said, turning a bit red (kind of like he is now). "Just. Could I ask you some questions?"

He then proceeded to recite every question he’d ever muttered at you but at a slightly slower pace and with a (somehow) more concentrated gaze. His nervousness did nothing but make you even more nervous and confused. I’ve been playing since I was a kid, you said. No one taught me, you said, I’ve learned from Kuroo. Who’s Kuroo? He’s my childhood friend, you said, you know, number 1 on Nekoma. Oh, he said, you mean bedhead? You’re going to have to tell him that one. I’ve always played setter, but only became the official setter this year, you then said. This year? he asked, what year are you in? I’m in second year, you said. He apologized profusely for referring to you so informally - it’s just that Shouyou always calls you that, so he just assumed. You didn’t mind - though he did seem inordinately embarrassed when you called him Tobio back. You didn’t exactly calm down, but you felt less uncomfortable once you started understanding what his intentions were.

He’s kind of like Shouyou. He didn’t seem very amused to hear that from you, though, although it was definitely true. He’s extremely determined to become better - it was kind of admirable, but also a bit tiring. That he thought you were good enough to ask you for advice (and even chase you all the way to Tokyo, though he insisted that the team was already in the area) was interesting. He was sort of different from how Shouyou made him out to be (that is, a super angry, narrow-minded seeming kind of guy, though you already knew it was mostly exaggerated). If he started asking you to toss for him, you probably wouldn’t be able to handle it. No, instead (though he did seem disappointed that he couldn’t see you toss), he asked you for your number.

You now receive up to 40 text messages a day. (On average, Shouyou sends 10. Somehow, it seems Tobio’s made even this a competition, because on average he sends 11. Sometimes you wonder why you gave either of them your number, then you remember the only reason you don’t receive 50 text messages is because now Kuroo’s stopped bothering you about making friends and getting out more often.)

You think you’re friends, now. Maybe not as close as you and Shouyou are, but certainly friends to some degree. Once, though, (since it turns out Karasuno really was in the area), Shouyou dragged him along to go around Tokyo. While it was sort of funny at the start, having the two ask whether every single phone tower was the Tokyo Tower started to get kind of exhausting, and you headed home just as the sky started to darken. Watching the two interact was really something else, though. Like some sort of comedy duo. Or an improbable friendship/rivalry from an anime. They were loud and ten times more incomprehensible together, so it was doubly weird when Tobio would do a complete 180 and suddenly seem… almost submissive to you? Every time he would, though, you just got more confused as to what he thought about you. It could’ve been the whole upperclassman thing (though you did make it clear that sort of thing didn’t matter to you), but he didn’t seem nearly as nervous with his seniors than he does with you. Maybe he finds some part of your personality abhorrent? Or he doesn’t know you well enough to know how to act with you? Are you doing something wrong or (if at all possible) intimidating?

You asked Shouyou about him when Tobio wandered off to find a bathroom. You’d never heard of him before, though Shouyou found that hard to believe. The title of King of the Court of Kitagawa Daiichi meant nothing to you; you reminded him that you never found volleyball particularly fun and didn’t pay too much attention to things in it considered ‘important’ (and at this he made a sour face that screamed ‘just you wait, I’ll show you yet’). He told you the story of a king rejected by his peers and how now Tobio hates being called ‘the king’. Of course, the boy in question came back before he could finish, but you were able to draw your own conclusions.

From what he told you, he was probably used to demanding what he wanted, but not necessarily getting it. Now that he can’t demand, he has no idea how to get what he wants. At least, that’s what it seems like.

Which would probably explain the situation you’re in. You had been certain that you two were beyond the point of awkwardly staring at each other, but for whatever reason today he seemed to have reverted to his initial behavior, but before you could think too hard about it, he stomped up to you after the match and now he’s gripping your shoulders very, very tightly and you are wishing very much that you could gather the courage to just run so you can maybe get out of this and still be able to look him in the eye (sort of) later (because you’d like to think you’re beyond that sort of behavior, too), and god, you knew he was a ‘freaking dork’ but this is worse than you ever thought it could be.

The problem is, you’re not exactly sure what he wants.

"Tobio," you say, trying to look at him. It’s really hard to meet his eyes like this, though. You end up looking away at Kuroo, who, on the other side of the court, has thankfully (?) not noticed what’s going on. There are a lot of words you want to say right now (like, ‘hurry up’ or ‘our teammates are still here’ or ‘we’re cleaning up’ or ‘what do you think you’re doing’), but none of them are really appropriate (that is, none of them won’t set him off), so you end up clamping your mouth shut and hoping he’ll get how awkward this is. His grip tightens, and no, he definitely realizes this is weird, but maybe you’re the one making it that way?

You’ve always gotten the sense that he’s been tiptoeing around you, and it’s. Frustrating, to say the least. Like he’s not quite sure what to do with you (though you’re not entirely sure why he has anything to do with you). Shouyou once relayed a story (with great enthusiasm) in which Tobio attempted to approach a stray cat when it hissed at him and ran away. If his face looked anything like it does now, then you’re not really surprised, but you’re starting to think that maybe this situation isn’t so different from that one, and that you seem to have taken the position of the cat.

Maybe he’s misunderstood? Maybe you haven’t been expressing yourself properly. He’s working his mouth, trying to figure out something to say, and if he doesn’t hurry or you don’t do something, people are going to notice. Maybe you should tell him to just say whatever he wants directly? But that would involve you yourself being direct. What if it ends up just embarrassing him? Still, this is going nowhere fast. You decide to throw caution to the wind.

“It’s okay… saying it outright…”

But then he does something you don’t expect.

He turns

bright

 _red_.

This is the exact moment that Shouyou suddenly becomes aware of the situation and, seeming to understand something that you don’t, begins hooting and hollering, successfully gathering the attention of everyone else in the gym, and, to your horror, this, along with the fact that you can quite literally feel the waves of heat emanating from Tobio’s face and despite him being clearly flustered has refused to move, is making you start to turn red too.

"I’m not sure," he says, suddenly, and you try not to jump, "that. I’m understanding this correctly."

 _Oh_.

You forgot that you’re a bit hard to understand yourself.

"Tobio," you say again, and he looks at you, and it’s becoming increasingly hard to keep your eyes on him when Kuroo starts making shocked and varying tones of ‘ohhhhhhh’ in the background and Inuoka catches on, "you’re probably right."

His eyes widen.

It takes Shouyou and the monk-cut to pry Tobio off after he kisses you and the next match doesn’t start for another half hour.


End file.
